Imagine a small clam: the size of a fingernail – on a pinky finger or that of a small child. That’s what the aptly named Herrington Fingernail Clam looks like. Learn more about these freshwater clams, one of the many creatures studied at the Flathead BioBlitz.

We asked the staff of Sierra Club BC to describe their “favourite childhood place”. Although we didn’t specify any explanation beyond that, the responses we received all contained memorable moments spent outdoors.

One of my take-aways from the recent election is that people voted for the economy, the environment, and social justice; but not necessarily at the same time. Whether it is on twitter or a brief quote on the evening news, our public dialogue is so often reduced down to one-liners that can’t possibly convey the complexity of the moment.

In the early 1980’s, Studio 54 at 254 West 54th Street in Manhattan was the place to be, at night, for fun, with the coolest of the cool people. I never made it there myself, and chances are you didn’t either. But we have all made it into Club 400 where uninvited, and in some cases unearned, memberships have been granted to all 7 billion of us. Membership is effectively permanent and its perks are not restricted to evenings, they will be with us all the time.

Underlying the pipeline and tanker debates in this election is the question of whether we as a province want wild salmon, resilient communities and sustainable jobs for our children, or whether we want to leave a legacy of oil spills and rising seas. In other words, will we elect a government that will take responsibility to do something about climate change?

B.C.’s coastal temperate rainforest, a breath-taking ecological gem left in-tact on the planet, is home to thousands of non-timber forest products. Kristen and Meg brought our acclaimed Going Wild program to Port Renfrew Elementary, located on the west coast of southern Vancouver Island. Read about their experience!

The woods aren’t quiet. There’s the steady drip of rain down to the floor, the squelching of our boots, the rustle of rain pants, the occasional bird song. But I am quiet, breathing in the moist-smelling air, trying to store it all up so that I can call on this feeling once I leave the grove.

Our 16th Annual Beach Clean-up was another marvellous success. Once again, we thank the many Islanders who scoured our beaches for unwanted detritus — mostly plastics — and did a super job of bagging it, bringing it to the designated collections points so it could be loaded on pickup trucks and then transferred to larger trucks for disposal.